First and foremost, discipleship is not a very easy thing in our lives. Jesus asks the rich man, and he is also asking each one of us, to divest ourselves of our idols and all the things that keep us from God. The Gospel presents us with a paradox: we lose what we keep, and we gain what we give away. When we lose our lives for Jesus Christ, we gain a priceless treasure and an inheritance which lasts forever. Whatever we give to God comes back a hundredfold. Generosity flows from a heart full of gratitude for the abundant mercy and grace which God grants. And generosity will be amply repaid, both in this life and in the life to come. Namely, we are to let go of the things of life that are used to oppress others. The rich man is not asked by Jesus to sell his riches because his wealth is evil; instead, Jesus is making the point that the rich man does not understand a fundamental aspect of Salvation. Salvation is a gift.

The rich young man in today’s Gospel wants to know what we all want to know—how to live in this life so that we might live forever in the world to come. He seeks what today’s Psalm calls “wisdom of heart.” He learns that the wisdom he seeks is not a program of works to be performed or behaviors to be avoided. As Jesus tells him, observing the commandments is essential to walking the path of salvation.

The Wisdom of God is not precepts, but a person—Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Wisdom whose Spirit was granted to Solomon in today’s First Reading. Jesus is the Word of God spoken of in today’s Epistle. And Jesus, as He reveals Himself to the rich man today, is God. In Jesus we encounter Wisdom, the living and effective Word of God. As He does with the rich man today, He looks upon each of us with love. That look of love, that loving gaze, is a personal invitation—to give up everything to follow Him.

We must have the attitude of Solomon, preferring Wisdom to all else, loving Him more than even life itself. This preference, this love, requires a leap of faith. We will be persecuted for this faith, Jesus tells His disciples today. But we must trust in His promise—that all good things will come to us in His company. We shall always have that good relationship with Jesus in our daily lives. Jesus will provide everything we need to reach salvation because Jesus is Wisdom, the word of God and God Himself who alone can save us and give Salvation to us.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

Jesus deals with the issue of divorce by taking his hearers back to the beginning of creation and to God’s plan for the human race. In Genesis 2:23-24 we see God’s intention and ideal that two people who marry should become so indissolubly one that they are one flesh. That ideal is found in the unbreakable union of Adam and Eve. They were created for each other and for no one else. They are the pattern and symbol for all who were to come.

Jesus sets the high ideal of the married state before those who are willing to accept his commands. Jesus, likewise, sets the high ideal for those who freely renounce marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Both marriage and celibacy are calls from God to live a consecrated life, that is, to live as married couples or as singles who belong not to themselves but to God. Our lives are not our own, but they belong to God. He gives the grace and power to those who seek to follow his way of holiness in their state of life. Do you seek the Lord and his grace in your state of life? That is what God expects from us always. He is always on our side to help us to go forward. His grace is enough to go forward peacefully.

According to Tertullian, one of the early Church Fathers, marriage is “Mutual Servants, equally Serving.” He says, “For all around the earth young people do not rightly and lawfully wed without their parents’ consent. The kind of yoke is that of two believers who share one hope, one desire, one discipline, one service. They enjoy kinship in spirit and in flesh. They are mutual servants with no discrepancy of interests. Truly they are ‘two in one flesh.’ Where the flesh is one, the spirit is one as well. Together they pray, together bow down, together perform their fasts, mutually teaching, mutually entreating, mutually upholding….”

We shall ask the good Lord to help us to do his will and live according to his way always.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

Regardless of one’s religion, see how Pope Francis has beautifully written about the family:

Family, a place of forgiveness. There is no perfect family, we do not have perfect parents, you are not perfect yourself. We do not marry a perfect person and we do not have perfect children. We have complaints from each other. We cannot live together without offending one another. We are constantly disappointed. Yes, for so many reasons at different times, we are disappointed by one another. There is no healthy marriage or healthy family without the exercise of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the medicine for family joy and happiness. Forgiveness is vital to our emotional health and spiritual survival. No matter the offense or who is the offender. Without forgiveness the family becomes an arena of conflict and a fortress of evil. Without forgiveness the family becomes sick and unhealthy. Forgiveness is the antiseptic of the soul, the purification of the spirit and the liberation of the heart. No sin is too big to be forgiven. He who does not forgive does not have peace in his soul and cannot have communion with God. Unforgiveness is evil and a poison that intoxicates and kills the one who refuses to forgive. Keeping the heartache of unforgiving in your heart is a self-destructive gesture. Those who do not forgive are physically, emotionally and spiritually ill. For this reason, the family must be a place of life and not a place of death; a place of forgiveness, a place of paradise and not a place of hell; a healing territory and not a disease; an internship of forgiveness and not guilt. Forgiveness brings joy where sorrow has brought sadness; healing where sorrow has caused disease. A family is a place of support and not of gossip and slander of one another. It must be a place of welcome, not a place of rejection. Shame to those who plant evil about others. We are family and not enemies. When anyone is going through a challenge, all they need is support (By Pope Francis).

Love and prayers

Fr. Charley

We cannot share in God’s glory without the cross. When Jesus prophesied his own betrayal and crucifixion, it did not make any sense to his disciples because it did not fit their understanding of what the Messiah came to do. And they were afraid to ask further questions.

The Apostles don’t understand this second announcement of Christ’s Passion. They begin arguing over issues of succession—over who among them is greatest, who will be chosen to lead after Christ is killed.

They are thinking not as God but as human beings. And Jesus teaches the Twelve—the chosen leaders of His Church—that they must lead by imitating His example of love and self-sacrifice. They must be “servants of all,” especially the weak and the helpless—symbolized by the child He embraces and places in their midst.

Jesus made a dramatic gesture by embracing a child to show his disciples who really is the greatest in the kingdom of God. What can a little child possibly teach us about greatness? Children in the ancient world had no rights, position, or privileges of their own. They were socially at the “bottom of the rung” and at the service of their parents, much like the household staff and domestic servants.

Jesus elevated a little child in the presence of his disciples by placing the child in a privileged position of honor. Who is the greatest in God’s kingdom? The one who is humble and lowly of heart—who instead of asserting their rights willingly, empty themselves of pride and self-seeking glory by taking the lowly position of a servant or child.

Jesus, himself, is our model. He came not to be served, but to serve. Paul the Apostle states that Jesus emptied himself and took the form of a servant. Jesus lowered himself and took on our lowly nature that he might raise us up and clothe us in his divine nature.

This is a lesson for us, too. We must have the mind of Christ, who humbled Himself to come among us must freely offer ourselves, making everything we do a sacrifice in praise of His name.

Love and Prayers,

Fr. Charley

Many in Israel recognized Jesus as a mighty man of God, even comparing him with the greatest of the prophets. Peter, always quick to respond whenever Jesus spoke, professed that Jesus was truly the “Christ of God”—”the Son of the living God.” No mortal being could have revealed this to Peter, but only God. Through the “eyes of faith” Peter discovered who Jesus truly was. Peter recognized that Jesus was much more than a great teacher, prophet, and miracle worker. Peter was the first apostle to publicly declare that Jesus was the Anointed One, consecrated by the Father and sent into the world to redeem a fallen human race enslaved to sin and cut off from eternal life with God. The word “Christ” in Greek is a translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah”—both words mean “the Anointed One.”

Jesus told his disciples that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and die in order that God’s work of redemption might be accomplished. God’s way of thinking is always different from ours. Jesus is telling us that we also have to go through the sufferings of our lives in order to reach our goal in heaven. It was through humiliation, suffering, and death on the cross that Jesus broke the powers of sin and death and won for us eternal life and freedom from the slavery of sin.

If we want to share in the victory of the Lord Jesus, then we must also take up our crosses and follow where he leads us. We should always offer our daily crosses into the hands of the Lord and pray to him to give us the courage to carry them with love towards him so that one day we will be reaching that Victory and enjoying it with him in heaven as the Holy Spirit gives each of us the gifts and strength we need to live as the true sons and daughters of God.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, I believe and I profess that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Take my life, my will, and all that I have, that I may be wholly yours now and forever. Help me to carry my daily crosses and follow your footsteps without any complaint and do it with great joy and love to you. Amen.

With love and Prayers,

Fr. Charley

One day a rich man gave a basket full of bad and rotten food to a poor man, thinking that he could give something to the less fortunate. The poor man thanked the rich man and left the house with the basket. He emptied the basket of whatever was in it and he cleaned the basket and filled the basket with beautiful flowers. Then he took it to the rich man. The rich man was surprised to see the beautiful flowers. He asked the poor man why he returned it with the beautiful flowers. “I gave you a basket full of rotten food and you are giving it back to me with beautiful flowers.” The poor man looked at the eyes of the rich man and said, “Every human being gives what is in his mind and in his heart. What you gave is what is inside you.” The rich man was deeply moved by what the poor man told him. He understood the very important lesson. It is not only the things in the basket, it also shows what kind of person that rich man is inside. Whatever you give to others always reflects what is in your heart. Kindness and positivity often inspire the same turn while negativity reflects one’s inner state.

We heard what Jesus was telling us in last week’s gospel: “Hear me, all of you and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person.” My dear brothers and sisters, from the fullness of heart the mouth speaks. Whatever is in you will always come out. So therefore, let us keep our hearts and minds clean and practice kindness and mercy in our daily lives. God Bless you all.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

Now the vocation of Israel was indeed to be a holy people, who were to be a light to the nations. This is our call as well, because we, too, are God’s disciples who are called to be holy. He speaks to us, knowing the real poverty of our attempts to follow Him. He speaks always from the richness of His love and mercy for each of us. Of course, His call for each of us is to repentance and conversion.

The call to holiness, that is, to be God’s light to the world, is our vocation. What “comes out” of each one of us is important. This is how His kingdom grows in us and among us.

Mark tells us that these Pharisees and scribes had come from Jerusalem. The mention of Jerusalem is a reminder that Jesus will die on a cross outside the walls of that city and that we will see the “Holy One of God.” Before he fed the 5,000, Mark tells us that Jesus felt a deep-seated compassion for the crowds, because they were like “sheep without a shepherd.” It is this same compassion which sent him to the cross. By the victory he won for us then, he has opened up the possibility that in his hands, once nailed to the cross, we might become the place where others encounter goodness, honesty, humility, justice, mercy, faith, hope, and love, and where our actions might offer genuine witness to the height and the depth, the width and the breadth of his undying love.

We have to consider two ways by which we can go beyond the rituals in order to enjoy more the blessings of God:

1. Approach the rituals with purity of heart: For instance, the ritual of the washing of hands is meaningless when undertaken with impure or unrepentant heart. Hence, in the gospel reading, Jesus stressed the need for purity of heart: “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” St. James would later emphasize this point: true religion entails keeping oneself unstained from the world. Let us sincerely repent before we approach any Christian ritual.
2. Be compassionate towards others: The God whom we must approach with purity of heart and whose mysteries we must be conscious of is not visible to our eyes. Hence, a concrete way of expressing the fact that we are going beyond the rituals is to love others as He has loved us in His Son Jesus Christ. Such compassionate love should be given especially to the poor. St. James states that true religion entails the care of widows and orphans in their need.

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, this means that our worship in the church has more meaning when it is accompanied by works of charity outside of it: showing love and mercy towards others as Jesus did to the poor and the needy, sick and unwanted. He did not look at the rituals, but above all, he looked at the heart of God’s love. So, by putting this into practice we shall be “Holy” or fulfill the call to be holy always.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

Faith is a gift which God freely gives to those who listen to his Word and who put their trust in him. Faith is a personal response to God’s revelation of himself. Faith is neither blind nor ignorant. It is based on the truth and reliability of God’s Word. True faith seeks understanding. Saint Augustine said, “I believe in order to understand, and I understand the better to believe.” The Lord Jesus offers all his followers freely this great gift of faith for being with him. We know that his life-giving Word and Spirit always help us to grow in our knowledge and understanding of God.

St. Paul the Apostle tells the Ephesians that it is the work of the Holy Spirit who enlightens the eyes of our hearts and minds to understand the truth and wisdom which come from God. Faith is the key to understanding and experiencing God’s action and work in our personal lives. Paul the Apostle tells us that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.” We can know God personally, and we grow in recognizing his voice as we listen to his word and obey his instruction. St. Peter tells us that Jesus has the words of everlasting life and the power to change and transform our lives. Ask the Lord Jesus to increase your faith and serve him as your Lord and Redeemer.

The early Church Father St. Augustine says: “‘Unless you eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, you shall not have life in you,’ says the Lord. Eat life—drink life. You will then have life, and life is complete. Then the Body and Blood of Christ will be life for each person under this condition: what is eaten visibly in the Sacrament is spiritually eaten and spiritually drunk in truth itself.”

Therefore, let us pray: Dear Lord I surrender my whole being before you. Please do take care of my life and help me to believe in your Word, which is eternal and life giving. Lead me wherever you want me to go and do the
things that you want me to do. May there be nothing which hinders me from trusting in your love and following your will always. Amen.

Love and Prayers,

Fr. Charley

Jesus chose the time of the Jewish Feast of Passover to fulfill what he had announced at Capernaum—giving his disciples his body and his blood as the true bread of heaven. When the Lord Jesus commands his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he invites us to take his life into the very center of our being. That life which he offers is the very life of God himself.

At the last supper when Jesus blessed the cup of wine, he gave it to his disciples saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus was pointing to the sacrifice he was about to make on the cross, when he would shed his blood for us—thus pouring himself out and giving himself to us—as an atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world. His death on the cross fulfilled the sacrifice of the paschal (Passover) lamb whose blood spared the Israelites from death in Egypt.

We often forget that receiving our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is a privilege rather than a right. If it is a right, then God and the Church owe us a duty to dispense it to us without questioning our motives or disposition. But if it is a privilege, then the Eucharist is a pouring forth of God’s beneficent grace to the undeserving, a privilege which we should never take lightly. And this is why we pray this at every Mass before receiving Holy Communion: “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you under my roof, but only say the word and I shall be healed.” This sense of unworthiness is also reflected in one of the two prayers said by the priest quietly before he receives the body and blood of Christ: “May the receiving of your Body and Blood, Lord Jesus Christ, not bring me to judgment and condemnation, but through your loving mercy be for me protection in mind and body and a healing remedy.”

The Church has always understood that “in the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, therefore, the whole Christ, is truly, really, and substantially contained,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

She calls this presence “real” because “it is presence in the fullest sense; that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present.” It “begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist.” Jesus declares Himself as the bread of life, offering eternal life through the consumption of His flesh and blood in the Holy Eucharist.

We shall receive Him with great love towards Him always with holiness and respect to Him.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

There was a beautiful story told about a great king and his Palace. His palace was magnificent and luxurious with the excitement of special guests arriving from all over the world. One day there arrived among the many guests a Spiritual Master (Guru). So, the servants quickly brought the man into the presence of the king. The king at once recognized the Guru and welcomed him happily to his beautifully decorated palace. Sitting down in reverence, the king asked very politely, “How can I help you, sir?” or “What can I do for you, sir?” Immediately the Guru said, “I want to stay the night in this inn, please.”

The king said, “This is not an inn but it is my own Castle.” So, the Guru asked the king, “Who was the owner of this place before you?” The king said, “It was my father, who else?” The guru asked where he is now, and the king said he died a few years back and he is gone from here.

After a moment of silence, the guru said, “Who owned this palace before your father?” The king said, “It was owned by his father, of course.” “Where is he now?” the guru asked. The king said, “He is long ago gone from this palace.”

“So according to what you have said, all those who stayed here stayed only for a short period of time. After that they all continued to travel somewhere else. Then this palace is nothing but an inn! Am I right?” asked the guru. The king had no answer for that.

“It is the temporary residence of a passer-by; a night in an inn” Marcus Aurelius said once. He was a Roman Emperor and a philosopher. When people have power and wealth in life, they think that this world is a permanent place for them. They forget that their earthly life leads to eternity. The Bible says that our citizenship is in Heaven (Phil 3:20). That is, heaven is our real home and eternal city. That is where we will live forever. We will live with God. This world is only an inn, or in other words, only a passing-by place. No human beings here stay in this world forever. When the time comes, they will leave this place to go to the other world.

So, therefore, learn how we can gather blessings from this world to go to heaven. When we share our things of this world with others, or share them with the poor, the needy, and the unwanted, then we will have blessings from heaven. Those are the resources to get into heaven. Sharing, compassion and caring are the ways to get into the heaven that Jesus promises to us. Strive hard for that always.

Love and Prayers

Fr. Charley